Hopscotch (Cortázar novel)

Lore & Background

Cortázar also leaves the option for the reader to choose a unique path. The first 36 chapters, grouped under 'From the Other Side,' describe Horacio Oliveira's life in Paris in the 1950s, featuring La Maga and the Serpent Club. Chapters 37 to 56, under 'From this Side,' take place in Argentina. The third section, 'From Diverse Sides,' contains solutions to puzzles from the first two parts, such as details about the character Morelli and the first meeting of La Maga and Emmanuele.

Reader's Guide

Hopscotch is acknowledged as one of the great existentialist novels and one of the most innovative postmodern literary works. It has been called the Latin American equivalent of James Joyce's Ulysses, and its groundbreaking features were assimilated by influential Latin American writers such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, and Manuel Puig. Some consider it the greatest Latin American novel of the 20th century. The novel inspired Yuval Sharon's 2015 opera production Hopscotch, set on multiple stages in Los Angeles. For the first U.S. edition, translator Gregory Rabassa split the inaugural National Book Award in the translation category.

Did You Know?

• The novel is often referred to as a counter-novel, as it was by Cortázar himself.
• Chapter 55 is left out entirely in the 'hopscotching' reading method.
• The third section of the book, 'From Diverse Sides,' does not need to be read to understand the plot.
• Through Morelli's writings, Cortázar hints at a desire to write a work in which the reader is a true co-conspirator.